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It looks like Microsoft and Samsung aren't eager to drag out their dispute over Android patent royalties. The two tech giants have reached an agreement that ends Microsoft's lawsuit over interest payments and otherwise smooths things over. The circumstances surrounding the deal are "confidential," so it's unclear who made the most concessions. However, it's more likely that Microsoft came out on top. Unless the Windows developer was willing to walk away empty-handed (which is doubtful given its aggressive licensing strategy), Samsung probably had to cough up more money than it originally planned.

How does that old song go? Everything old is new again? I'm reminded of it every time Samsung and BlackBerry get wrapped up in some will-they-won't-they acquisition intrigue like they did on Wednesday. In case you somehow missed all the fun, Reuters reported that Samsung offered a cool $7.5 billion to BlackBerry as part of a potential buyout deal. In the hours that followed, BlackBerry balked, Samsung shot the notion down and investor hope -- seen in the form of surging BBRY stock prices -- all but evaporated.

And just like that, the Rockstar Consortium's lawsuit campaign against Android is over. The patent holding group (backed by Apple, BlackBerry, Ericsson, Microsoft and Sony) has sold all of its commonly held patents to clearinghouse RPX for $900 million, or a fraction of the $4.5 billion the total patent pool was worth a few years ago. Rockstar will accordingly drop the lawsuits that it still had left, including those leveled against HTC, LG and Samsung. Don't worry that RPX will promptly turn around and sue someone else, either. It already has a deal to license those patents for defensive purposes to a group of 30-plus companies, including Google and Cisco, while the Rockstar companies get to keep their licenses.

Google has been forging patent deals left and right with smartphone manufacturers to both get technology and fend off lawsuits, and now it's taking a similar approach with American carriers. The search firm has reached a deal with Verizon that gives both sides access to patents covering a "broad range of products." Neither side is saying what those products are, but they're clear that this is a hedge against patent trolls -- they'll have more ammunition the next time someone files a lawsuit over some dodgy intellectual property claims.

Philips made more than a few gamers nervous when it sued Nintendo over motion control patents back in the spring, but all that's water under the bridge as of today. The two companies have reached a truce that has Philips dropping its lawsuits in return for a patent cross-licensing deal. Neither firm is discussing the terms of the settlement, although Nintendo was clearly under the gun here -- it risked having to stop console sales during a US trial, which would have wrecked its already precarious finances. Regardless of who came out on top, it's safe to say that you won't have trouble picking up a Wii U in the near future.

Remember the Rockstar Consortium? The group was formed by a handful of tech giants (including Apple, Microsoft, Ericsson and Sony) to buy a treasure trove of patents and promptly sue both Google and some Android partners, which promised one of the bigger legal battles in recent tech history. Well, it's not going to be as dramatic as first thought -- Google has agreed to settle its part of the lawsuit. The terms of the deal aren't available and will take a few weeks to hash out, but it's likely that Google is forking over some cash to Rockstar given that Cisco did the same earlier in November. It's also unclear if ASUS, HTC, Samsung and other manufacturers have reached their own settlements. However, it's hard to see them keeping up the fight for much longer when Google itself is out of the picture.

Samsung definitely isn't taking NVIDIA's first patent lawsuit lying down. The Korean tech firm has countersued NVIDIA not just for allegedly infringing on six patents, but for leading buyers astray with benchmarks for the Shield Tablet. NVIDIA is supposedly trying to "confuse customers" by claiming that the slate's Tegra K1 processor outpaces the Exynos 5433 chip in the Galaxy Note 4; regular benchmarks show that's not true, Samsung claims. The suit also accuses PC vendor Velocity Micro of violating two additional patents (for a total of eight), since NVIDIA's graphics cards play a heavy role in its lineup.

Samsung isn't the only Android device maker getting cozy with Google's patents, apparently. LG has just entered into a cross-licensing deal with Google that will let the two companies use each other's patents (including new ones) for the next 10 years. The two sides are coy about just why they've forged the long-term pact, although there are few possibilities. For a start, one or both sides may simply want to borrow the other's features -- a blanket agreement eliminates the chances of lawsuits and simplifies the licensing process. There's also a chance that Google is using the deal to guarantee that LG won't stray too far from the official Android strategy. It's not certain that this is the case, though; unlike Samsung, LG hasn't been in a rush to replace Google software and services with its own. Whatever the motivations, it's doubtful that these companies will duke it out in the courtroom any time soon.

Samsung was quick to cite the acquisition of Nokia as a reason for holding out on Microsoft's royalty payments, but there weren't many details. Just what had it spooked? Thanks to some new court filings, we now have a clearer sense of its motivations. Simply put, the Korean tech giant is worried about "charges of collusion" now that Microsoft is a direct competitor in the smartphone business. The patent deal requires that Samsung not only make Windows Phones, but hand over sensitive business details -- both big problems when Microsoft could use them to gain a competitive edge. Samsung already stopped handing over those trade secrets over jitters that American antitrust regulators would step in.

If you thought Denon's Heos wireless speakers were a little too similar in purpose to Sonos' range, you're not alone. Sonos has sued D&M Holdings (the company that owns Denon) for allegedly violating "at least" four patents. The audio gear maker accuses the Denon team of making "little to no effort" to distinguish its speakers -- while they look different and have more inputs, the core concept is supposedly the same. Sonos says it's only asking for Denon to come up with "new ideas," and won't chase after royalties if the two sides can reach an agreement. It's not clear whether or not Denon plans to fight back, but it tellsVentureBeat that it takes the lawsuit "very seriously" and will have a full response soon.

The Obama administration has recently nominated former Google lawyer Michelle Lee to be the next permanent director of the US Patent and Trademark Office, which could mean bad news for patent trolls. Lee, who was appointed as the department's deputy director in January, was Google's first ever head of patents and patent strategy and has long been a strong proponent for patent reform. Lee appears to be well-versed to handle the demands of the job, with not just her history at Google but also M.I.T degrees in electrical engineering and computer science and 20 years experience as a patent attorney. The USPTO has not had a permanent director since David Kappos left in 2013.

Siri might be making her way to a Mac near you. According to a patent application filed in February and released today, Apple's considering bringing the iPhone personal assistant to its desktop OS. The 92-page document details how you'll interact with Apple's "digital assistant," a term that occurs 574 times in the patent app (the name Siri never makes an appearance, however). According to the document, a desktop version could pair Siri's current actions with more complex functionality, such as file and system management. After calling on the assistant by using a specific gesture on the touchpad or clicking an icon in the dock, you could use it to send emails, find images or YouTube videos on the web, print documents or copy and "hold" multiple files. As TechCrunch notes, there's no reference to such an assistant in the Yosemite beta preview, so it'll probably be at least another year before Siri (or her better-equipped equivalent) arrives on the Mac.

So much for fighting to the bitter end -- Apple and Samsung have just announced an agreement that will see them end all patent lawsuits against each other outside of the US. For those not keeping score, that means they're dropping cases in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea and (phew!) the UK. The two tech companies aren't automatically buddy-buddy after this, however. Besides continuing their existing American cases, they aren't pursuing any licensing deals or other pacts that would avoid trouble in the future. Still, if you've been hoping that Apple and Samsung would finally make nice and focus on beating each other in the marketplace instead of the courtroom, you're much closer to getting your wish.

The ink is likely dry on the Apple/Beats deal, but it has yet to be officially stamped with regulatory approval. Bose is now going after Cupertino's big purchase though, as the audio outfit is suing over alleged patent infringement. The suit takes aim at Beats' noise-cancelling tech in its $300 Studio line of wireless cans, claiming that the company swiped items from five of Bose's patents. As you may recall, Dr. Dre's outfit is also facing legal proceedings from MOG founder David Hyman who's looking to recoup over $20 million in compensation. We've reached out to both sides and we'll update this post when we hear back, but until then, the full complaint is accessible below.

Patent litigation from non-participating entities (casually known as "patent trolls") is the bane of a technology firm's legal department. Fighting patent lawsuits from firms that subsist completely on licensing and legal action is a frustrating waste of resources, and one that often stifles innovation indirectly. Now, a new partnership between Canon, Dropbox, Google, Asana, SAP and Newegg hopes to cut off would-be patent trolls at the knees. It's called the License on Transfer Network (LOT), and it's a patent-licensing agreement that neuters a patent's potential for litigation before prospective trolls can exploit it.

From now on companies will have to be a little more specific when filing software patents. The United States Supreme Court today ruled in favor of CLS Bank, a company that was accused by Alice Corporation of violating several of its patents relating to computer-based trading systems. Twice lower courts have found that Alice's patents were invalid and now the highest court in the land has settled the dispute once and for all. In one of the two group opinions supporting the unanimous decision, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that "merely requiring generic computer implementation fails to transform that abstract idea into a patent-eligible invention."

And just like that, the longstandinglegal battle between Apple and Motorola appears to be winding down. The two smartphone giants have reached an agreement that will see them drop patent lawsuits against each other. The truce doesn't involve offering technology licenses, but Apple and Google (still Motorola's owner at this point) say they'll "work together in some areas of patent reform." Neither side is revealing what this entails, although it won't be surprising if it involves efforts to curb the patent trolls that they face.

​Smucker's, believe it or not, has a patent for the process of making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You should see the filing, too -- based on the complex diagrams you'd think it detailed architectural concepts or maybe even some weird new camera lens. While the PB&J company won't likely sue for damages the next time you make yourself some lunch, a recently granted Amazon patent addresses another very simple concept, one used by professionals around the world: photography (and video) of items against a white backdrop.

The US Supreme Court just gave judges a little more leverage to punish patent trolls: it defined the word "exceptional." A provision of federal patent law hinged on the definition of the word, stating that the court could charge a lawsuit's losing party with the winner's attorney fees in "exceptional cases." It sounds straightforward: if a lawsuit is obviously frivolous, the patent troll pays its victim's costs. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court said, precedent from a previous case left the rule with "an inflexible framework onto statutory text that is inherently flexible." In other words, it was too difficult to define exactly how exceptional a case was, making it nearly impossible to implement punitive fee-shifting.

The patent wars are about to cool down in Europe... a little bit, anyway. The European Commission has revealed measures that prevent both Motorola and Samsung from using lawsuits over standards-based patents as offensive weapons against competitors, rather than last-ditch options when negotiations fail. To start, the regulator has ordered Motorola to cut out any "anticompetitive" terms in patent licensing deals with Apple and other companies. Motorola is allegedly abusing its control of cellular patents by forbidding companies from contesting those patents' validity; companies and their customers shouldn't be forced to pay for licenses that might not hold up in court, the Commission says. Motorola won't pay a fine for the claimed violation since there's no precedent, but the phone maker now can't threaten a lawsuit simply because Apple wants to challenge the patents it's licensing.

Few would object to legislative attempts to stop patent trolls in their tracks. However, several companies are worried these efforts might go too far -- enough so that they've formed their own US political lobby organization, the Partnership for American Innovation. The group, which includes tech giants Apple, GE, IBM and Microsoft, wants a "balanced" approach that reduces the volume of junk patents (and the resulting abuse) while letting companies file for software and biotech patents. The policy isn't surprising when these firms are trying to protect their cash cows. However, it also pits the Partnership's members squarely against firms like Netflix and Twitter, which argue that patents only get in the way. No matter what lawmakers do, it's now clear that they're going to get an earful from both sides.

Update: Despite what it looks like at first glance, the Partnership is strictly a public advocacy group, not a lobby.

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applebiotechbiotechnologygeibmlobbylobbyinglobbyistsmicrosoftpaipartnershipforamericaninnovationpatentsThu, 03 Apr 2014 15:51:00 -040021|20862414http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/03/19/blizzard-scores-a-victory-against-patent-troll-worlds-inc/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=WoW&ncid=rss_semi
http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/03/19/blizzard-scores-a-victory-against-patent-troll-worlds-inc/http://wow.joystiq.com/2014/03/19/blizzard-scores-a-victory-against-patent-troll-worlds-inc/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=WoW#commentsActivision Blizzard has won a victory over Worlds Inc, which has been leveraging its patents on basic virtual world principles -- like the ability to chat with other users in a virtual environment -- to sue MMO companies like Blizzard and Second Life makers Linden Labs. Patent trolling can be big business and, indeed, seems to be the primary business that Worlds Inc is in these days. However, they may be running out of luck in this case, as the latest ruling suggests the patents are invalid because they describe things already in public use before they were filed.

However, this ruling is certainly not the end of the ongoing legal drama involving Worlds, which has lauded the ruling as a clear victory for itself. But with the Supreme Court currently considering whether to take stronger action against patent trolls, which may make it easier for sued companies to recover legal fees from patent trolls (and thus deter these sorts of lawsuits), it may be harder for Worlds to find traction on such lawsuits in the future. We'll have to keep watching to see just what happens between Activision Blizzard and Worlds, but it seems unlikely that they'll manage to recover from this ruling.

It's back to court for Apple and Samsung. After an attempt at settling their latest patent dispute, the two companies will begin another trial in March, according to a filing with the US district court in San Jose. To be clear, this isn't a re-trial of the case that Apple brought back in 2011 -- you know, the one where Samsung was made to pay nearly a billion dollars in damages. No, this is a new case, one that addresses a different set of patents, and one that names more recent devices, like the GS3. For now, it's unclear how much money is at stake, though experts cited by The Wall Street Journal claim that the damages could be higher this time around, given that the case includes newer Samsung devices that sold even better than the products named in the earlier suit. All will be revealed in March, we suppose. We'll be back then reporting any major developments -- even if we're as sick of these patent wars as you are.

The White House isn't relying solely on legislative measures to try and curb patent trolls; it's also giving the trolls' targets some online resources to defend themselves. To start, it just launched a USPTO website that tells victims what to do if they're served with infringement notices or subpoenas. Meanwhile, a future effort will crowdsource prior art to thwart suits over patents that should never have been granted in the first place. There's still more work ahead in the legal realm, including pro bono defense lawyers and technology training for patent examiners. However, the new online tools just might give smaller companies the know-how to fight back against trolls that prey on their lack of information.

Nokia and HTC have officially put all this patentlitigationnonsense behind them. The two have settled their disputes, signed an agreement to license each others technology, and even decided to explore further opportunities to collaborate. The details are confidential, as they usually are in these circumstances, and the reasoning behind the move are not entirely clear... not that we're complaining. It could be that Nokia and HTC have realized there are competitors out there with deeper pockets and better stocked patent arsenals, and this alliance is simply to protect themselves against other aggressors. Or, it could be that Nokia is trying to get all its legal ducks in a row ahead of the impending Microsoft acquisition. Whatever the impetus, we're just glad that this is one less intellectual property rivalry we'll have to cover.